Currently, mobile devices and related accessories facilitate communication in a number of different ways: users can send email messages, make telephone calls, send text and multimedia messages, chat with other users, and so on. That is, mobile devices allow users to not only make voice calls, but also send written messages via email, instant messaging (“IM”), texting via short messaging service (SMS) or multimedia messaging service (MMS), messaging via social networks (often over the internet protocol (IP)), etc. Moreover, mobile devices can play music, games, videos, and so on. As these devices have added features and become more powerful, users have also demanded that the devices become smaller and more portable.
Some mobile phones provide a traditional numeric keypad along with a few additional buttons. Other mobile devices provide a full alphanumeric keyboard, or a touch screen that depicts the keyboard. Many of these devices include a display and a keypad/keyboard that can move relative to each other. For example, flip phones have a display that can pivot relative to the keyboard, while many smart phones have a keyboard that can slide relative to the screen. The flip phones may include a small secondary display on a top of the phone to display time, signal strength, battery level, and/or a phone number of a calling party.
While these arrangements have been successful for many devices, there is a continual need to improve the overall arrangement and compactness of mobile devices. Further, as the mobile devices add more features, e.g. digital music players, the devices must include additional buttons, e.g. play, stop, reverse and fast forward buttons for the music player. These additional buttons add to the complexity and cost of the device. Alternatively, the device could provide buttons that implement two or more functions, such as a “4” key that also rewinds a music track. However, such dual, or even triple, use of buttons can become confusing to users.
The need exists for a system that overcomes these problems and progresses the state of the art, as well as one that provides additional benefits. Overall, the examples herein of some prior or related systems and their associated limitations are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of existing or prior systems will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading the following Detailed Description.